{"id":709389,"date":"2026-04-13T04:16:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T04:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/709389\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T04:16:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T04:16:09","slug":"warriors-clippers-play-in-tournament-preview-x-factors-season-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/709389\/","title":{"rendered":"Warriors-Clippers play-in tournament preview: X-factors, season series"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 The day the Warriors<\/a> have waited weeks for has almost arrived. As Draymond Green candidly shared during a recent press conference, the team has been essentially locked into the No. 10 seed for the past 15 games, with wins and losses inconsequential.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, the Warriors are ready for a win-or-go-home game against a familiar opponent. Golden State will remain in Los Angeles County for the No. 9-10 play-in tournament game<\/a> against the Clippers at Intuit Dome<\/a> on Wednesday (7 p.m., Prime Video).\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Warriors lost to the Clippers in Sunday\u2019s season finale<\/a>, and the players appreciate being able to stay in the same town for five straight days.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNo matter who we play, I think we\u2019d be ready,\u201d Los Angeles native De\u2019Anthony Melton<\/a> said Friday night after the Warriors\u2019 loss in Sacramento<\/a>. \u201cBut I think at the same time, not having to travel sometimes, or just travel short distances, it\u2019s good too.\u201d<\/p>\n

The winner advances to face the loser of Tuesday\u2019s play-in game between the No. 8 Trail Blazers and No. 7 Suns for the privilege of taking on No. 1 seed and defending champion Oklahoma City. The loser of Wednesday\u2019s game will see its season end. <\/p>\n

Storyline<\/p>\n

The teams had a couple of playoff battles in the 2010s, including a seven-game Clippers victory in the first round of the 2014 season that led to Steve Kerr\u2019s first year on the job. However, no LA players remain from their last series \u2013 a 4-2 Warriors win \u2013 in 2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Clippers have played the season mired in controversy, as the NBA is investigating the Clippers for allegedlycircumventing the salary cap by facilitating an endorsement deal for Kawhi Leonard that required him to do nothing to earn it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Clippers began the season 6-21 and released franchise icon Chris Paul, but the team has bounced back, even despite trading away starters James Harden and Ivica Zubac to claw back in the playoffs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Warriors are limping into the postseason with most of their ideal starting lineup either out for the season with a knee injury (Jimmy Butler, Moses Moody) or battling chronic injuries (Steph Curry, Kristaps Porzingis).<\/p>\n

Season series (Clippers 3, Warriors 1)<\/p>\n

The Warriors shut down the Clippers 98-79<\/a> in their first matchup back on Oct. 28. The Clippers benefited from a Kerr ejection and a late Curry foul-out, beating Golden State 103-102. Despite Green giving a spirited defensive effort against Leonard, the Clippers defeated the Warriors 114-102 on March 2<\/a>. The Clippers defeated the Warriors 115-110 on Sunday in the season finale, even though Leonard sat out to rest his ankle and Curry played with nothing on the line for Golden State.<\/p>\n

Play-in history<\/p>\n

The Warriors are 1-3 all-time in the play-in, their only win being a 121-116 victory over the Grizzlies last season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe play-in games actually don\u2019t exist,\u201d Kerr joked last year, poking fun at the NBA\u2019s choice not to include the tournament\u2019s stats in regular-season or playoff totals. \u201cI don\u2019t remember anything about being in a play-in game in the past. It vanished into thin air.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recent history<\/p>\n

The Clippers have been one of the streakiest teams in the league since March began, with four-and five-game winning streaks sandwiched around four consecutive losses.<\/p>\n

Leonard has been among the best offensive players in the league, averaging a career-high 27.9 points per game, and his co-star Darius Garland has put up 20.2 points and 6.7 assists per game since joining the Clippers following a trade from the Cavaliers. Benedict Mathurin, acquired from Indiana in the Zubac trade, has averaged 17.3 points per game off the bench since arriving in Inglewood.\u00a0<\/p>\n

X-factor: Healthy(?) Kristaps Porzingis<\/p>\n

When he is in top shape, Porzingis is the kind of isolation scorer the Warriors have lacked since Butler\u2019s injury, and the type of shot-blocker Golden State has not had since Andrew Bogut\u2019s heyday.<\/p>\n

The problem is, Porzingis being available is never a certainty. He has dealt with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome for years. After arriving in the Bay Area and debuting post-All-Star break, Porzingis missed the next six games with an unidentified illness. Since then, he has missed time with a back injury, knee soreness and another illness.<\/p>\n

Porzingis should thrive against the Clippers frontcourt, which includes the ancient Brook Lopez and the middling John Collins. But with his injury history, there is no guarantee he can do that for a full game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Injury report<\/p>\n

Leonard, as has been the case for much of his career, is dealing with an injury. This time, it is his left ankle. But aside from a season-ending injuries to center Yanic Niederhauser and an early-season hip fracture that ended Bradley Beal\u2019s debut season, they are healthy.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Curry is 38 and is trying to regain his stamina after missing over two months with runner\u2019s knee. He played 27 minutes against the Rockets a week ago and 25 against the Kings on Tuesday. In the rematch in Sacramento, Curry tweaked his right ankle but played 27 minutes, and then finished the regular season by playing X minutes at the Clippers.<\/p>\n

Aside from Butler and Moody, the Warriors could be without backup center Quinten Post (foot). The rest of the team is expected to be available.<\/p>\n

One thing working in the Warriors\u2019 favor is that most of their top players have not been asked to play huge minutes. The only exception is Brandin Podziemski, who has played at least 30 minutes in seven of the team\u2019s last 11 games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 The day the Warriors have waited weeks for has almost arrived. As Draymond Green candidly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":709390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3786],"tags":[7,159,160,479,164,4025,4024,155,165,6,161,162,163,66,255,1372,158],"class_list":{"0":"post-709389","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golden-state-warriors","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-bay-area","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-golden-state","12":"tag-golden-state-warriors","13":"tag-goldenstate","14":"tag-goldenstatewarriors","15":"tag-inside-sports","16":"tag-latest-headlines","17":"tag-nba","18":"tag-peninsula","19":"tag-san-francisco","20":"tag-san-francisco-county","21":"tag-sports","22":"tag-warriors","23":"tag-warriors-alert","24":"tag-warriors-hq"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116395467887905853","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=709389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/709390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}